I’d never seen Roy Halladay pitch in person. He was traded from Toronto to Philadelphia in the off-season, and he was scheduled to pitch at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado on May 11th, 2010. I bought three tickets in the section behind home plate, with the idea that I’d see the game with Pinback and savvyraven.

The game was rained out. It was rescheduled as the evening game on May 12th, which was also rained-out. I’ll ignore the part where Halladay pitched while I was stuck at work, at 1:10 PM on the 12th.

With two straight rain-outs, this definitely qualifies for Stubhub’s cancellation policy, right? I ought to be getting a full refund, because that’s what they promise. Unfortunately, they are lying pieces of disease desperate for your money. I’ll post my e-mail exchange with them. Now keep in mind – there’s no makeup day announced. In order to have the Yankees and Red Sox play each other in 19 unwatchable games, all teams in a division play each other as much as humanly possible. This means that two teams in the National League, but of different divisions (like the Rockies and Phillies) have one series in each city.

So, with absolutely no makeup game scheduled, I thought there should be no question that I get a complete refund.

Stubhub couldn’t be bothered to send an e-mail when the second game was rained out, so I started things off:

Dear sirs,

I had purchased tickets for the Philadelphia at Colorado game for May 11th, and as you note, the make-up game was also rained out.

Stubhub’s policy is that when an event is cancelled, a full refund is in order. Philadelphia isn’t coming anywhere near Colorado again this season due to the unbalanced MLB schedule, and history shows that the games will probably not ever be played. MLB has announced no makeup date, and it’s rather poor form to leave me in limbo indefinitely.

Can I please get a refund for my three tickets to this event?

Sincerely,

I received the following reply:

Dear Robb,

Thank you for contacting StubHub.

Tickets for the original date of 5/11 will be honored. No refunds will be issued at this time. We will attempt to inform our buyers of any updates regarding this event as soon as information is made available to us. However, we recommend that you regularly check with the team for the most up to date information.

If you can no longer use your tickets, there is still time to sell them on StubHub. Visit our Help section and check out the Seller Learning Center to learn all about Getting Started Listing.

If you have any questions, please send us an email atcustomerservice@stubhub.com.

I’d like to note that they asked me to write them back using this e-mail address: atcustomerservice@stubhub.com. That e-mail address doesn’t work. They are missing a space there.

I replied with this:

Hi,

This really isn’t acceptable.

There is no possibility that the game will be made up in Colorado. More, since there is no game that is going to be played, your advice about selling these tickets on Stubhub included in your mail is not
particularly helpful. FOR SALE: 3 TICKETS TO IMAGINARY GAME.

Can you please escalate this issue to someone with the power to initiate a refund? Or give me an alternate e-mail or phone number to use to address this situation? I am extremely disappointed in the
customer service I have received so far.

And the thing to take from this is that, yeah, it’s just a form mail they sent me, because they’re cunts, but they wanted me to use Stubhub to sell tickets to a game that has not been announced, and WON’T be announced.

Their reply:

Dear Robb,

Thank you for contacting StubHub.

I apologize for the confusion regarding this issue. A makeup game for this postponed event will be played. Tickets for the original date of 5/11 will be honored. No refunds will be issued at this time. We will attempt to inform our buyers of any updates regarding this event as soon as information is made available to us. However, we recommend that you regularly check with the team for the most up to date information.

Please feel free to check MLB.com for the most up-to-date information regarding this situation. Below, I have provided you a link regarding the latest press release regarding the situation.

So they are asking me to go to that link at the Rockies’ site to tell me that, yeah, there’s no date for the new game. What it does say is this: When the date is determined, announcements regarding the rescheduled game will be made during Rockies game broadcasts and on the team’s official website, www.coloradorockies.com.

QUICK LET ME TELL YOU a radio broadcast I’d never listen to and a website I’d never go to.

Announcements will be made during game broadcasts…. are you KIDDING ME. Jesus Christ. “Boy, I’d better listen to the Rockies for the rest of the season! Yay baseball!”

So I replied with this:

Dear sirs,

There is no possibility that a makeup game will occur in Colorado. I have cross-referenced the schedules of both the Rockies and Phillies and, with the exception of All-Star Weekend, there is no day that both Colorado and Philadelphia have off concurrently before the end of the season. The only way these games will be played in Colorado is if a pennant race directly affects both teams, and somehow I think you’ll understand if I don’t take it on faith that Stubhub is going to reimburse me sometime in August when one of these teams are eliminated.

The thought of Stubhub holding onto my money for some nebulous game that will never, ever be played within a thousand miles of my house is laughable in its arrogance. I would like to strenuously request a refund.

In using the Stubhub site, I would like to address two issues that escaped quality assurance. The first is that the password retrieval page is broken under Chrome – both the sign up button and cancel text occupy the exact same space on the page. More, there is an error in the automated e-mail forms that inform the user he or she should write “atcustomerservice@stubhub.com”. There should be a space between the word “at” and “customerservice.”

Having now given something to you, I would very much appreciate it if you would, in return, issue me a freaking refund for a game that will never be played in my home state. I hope that you fully understand that the game was rained out not once, but twice, and in addition to literally being rained one night and snowed on the other in May, I didn’t see so much as the ceremonial first pitch, which ought to go to ME for putting up with this nonsense.

Please issue me a refund.

Sincerely,

And they haven’t written back, again, because Stubhub is a company filled with lying weasels that think there’s absolutely nothing wrong with taking your money for a game that never occurred. Why would I ever go through them again? They’ve basically sold me the equivalent of game 8 of the World Series and games 2 and 3 of the Super Bowl. Anyway, the thing to take out of all this is that I paid for the tickets with Paypal, who is a partner of Stubhub and filled with bottom-feeding, incompetent retards that don’t understand the basics of capitalism in their own right. Everyone I’ve spoken to says to get an American Express card, because they live for this. Don’t give Stubhub any money. If the event gets rained out, they will steal your money.

Hi, I’m Gregg with StubHub’s Executive Customer Care Department. We read your comment and I wanted to be sure to address your concerns as best as I can.

We know how frustrating rainouts can be with Major League Baseball games and our FanProtect Guarantee states that “You will be refunded if the event is cancelled and not rescheduled.” Since individual venue policies differ, and we have an authorized integration agreement for tickets sold on our site with Major League Baseball, our process and action is dictated by the decision that Major League Baseball, the individual team and venue determine in each case. This includes the rescheduling of a potential game and/or honoring the tickets that were issued for the original game that is now postponed. Until that information is made known to us, our FanProtect Guarantee is still in force and applied accordingly.

My understanding is that any final decision by MLB, the Rockies or the Phillies regarding how this rainout game in question will be handled, other than being postponed as it is currently, has not been finalized at this time.

We do understand how this type of predicament may impact our customers, as we are also fans ourselves. I would like to discuss your specific order with you in detail and work toward a fair and amicable resolution. Please contact me via email at yourfeedbackmatters@stubhub.com, Attn: Gregg, and include the order number or the email address that your account is set up with and I will respond directly. I look forward to hearing from you.